Predictive Assessment and Comparison of Bayesian Survival Models for Cancer Recurrence

Complex data features, such as unmodelled censored event times and variables with time-dependent effects, are common in cancer recurrence studies and pose challenges for Bayesian survival modelling. Current methodologies for predictive model checking and comparison often fail to adequately address these features. This paper bridges that gap by introducing new, targeted recommendations for predictive assessment and comparison of Bayesian survival models. Our recommendations cover a variety of different scenarios and models. Accompanying code together with our implementations to open source software help in replicating the results and applying our recommendations in practice.